enjoying every second of life and running

2011 Rock and Roll Chicago – Half Marathon – 1:39:54

Saturday we met up with our friends for a pre-race dinner at P.F. Changs and some delicious Pinkberry. After dinner we headed back to our room to relax and I did my pre-race ritual of a facial mask and manicure, just a perfect way to relax.

We were up and out the door to park by 5am before the road closures and met up with our friends. Drew had a gig the night prior and got very little sleep beforehand.

Us with Drew before the race.

While waiting around a lady recognized me from the blog and posting on The Nest. She said, you are FlyRunner, right? I instantly hugged her without knowing who she was just because I was so excited to meet someone that reads my blog. Her name is Stephanie. She and her husband Daniel drove from states away to run the race. They were heading out right after the race so we wouldn’t get a chance to meet up afterward. They were super nice and I hope they both had a great race! Thanks Stephanie for saying hi, please post if you read this!

While waiting to start they announce that Bret Michaels would not be performing due to flu and dehydration, boo! This seriously bummed us out. He rocked the RNR Vegas event and we were psyched to see his show. I understand

The temps were super mild, especially for August. A great day for a PR, for me it would be a race of just hoping to not have to stop with stomach issues.

Waiting to start.

I had changed the Auto Lap setting on my Garmin 210 to off because the GPS signal gets messed up bouncing off of the buildings and going under the streets. I would hit lap at each mile marker to get my actual pace. The only issue being that the first two miles had no mile markers that I noticed. This got me worried, there is no way I would be able to do the math to calculate how I was doing with pace. Worst case marathon paced run, best case get a PR. Luckily mile 3 I see a marker and had the the remainder of the course.

Out on the course, Vanilla Hammer Gel in hand.

By mile 4 the soreness in my hips that has been whispering to me wouldn’t go away, I knew PR was highly unlikely. Then the feeling I dread most, lower stomach, I want to go to the bathroom pain. On a positive note it wasn’t the rumblings of a demon wanting to leave my body type pain, just a I gotta go situation. So thank goodness for small progress that I wasn’t about to burst into tears or anything from the pain. Still I couldn’t manage a great pace with this feeling reminding me as the miles ticked by slowly. I refused to make a stop. I’m sick of having to stop and I wanted to see if I could make it the whole race and I try to focus on moving forward.

Relief surprisingly came around mile 10. All of a sudden my stomach stopped aching enough that I could enjoy the last three miles. I will take the progress, it is an improved experience since some of my latest long distance racing.

While we waiting for Drew we ran into Mollyberries! We converse via blog, but have never got to meet in person. She was walking in front of us and said “you are FlyRunner, right?!” She got an instant sweaty hug and we chatted about the race and future plans. Congrats Molleyberries on your race! So great to finally meet you!

Our friend Carrisa came in 1:5x and had a great time on the course. Drew came in with a 2:15 and didn’t even looked phased afterward. We did a minor change of clothes and wipe down and took our stinky selves to brunch at the Palmer House. I’m sure the other patrons didn’t appreciate the runner stink, but at least there were others finishers there too. 🙂

16 thoughts on “2011 Rock and Roll Chicago – Half Marathon – 1:39:54”

Amazing time – congratulations! I did my first ever half marathon a couple of weekends ago and am now working on convincing myself to straight training for a full marathon… But before that, I need to work on my times first. Such a good addiction to have! 🙂

Way to push through that stomach discomfort! Your race pics look great. You are such a hardcore athlete — I love your recaps.

I’m considering the RnR half in San Jose, but I cannot justify another $100 race … I do think of RnR as a bucket-list type of event. Everyone I know who has run those races has said nothing but positive things. Maybe next year.

I do not see how you deal with those stomach problems nearly EVERY race! Ugh, what a hassle and just… gRRRR. Do you think the new diet is helping? It does seem that you are getting better. Do you have a routine for “going” before races? I know this is TMI, but if I get up super early and drink a bunch of water then everything seems to work BEFORE race time. Great time, though, girl! Way to go!

Actually that is a big part of the issue, I didn’t go for two days prior. 😦 I don’t feel stressed by racing, but I think the excitement of traveling causes my system to shut down. I will try more water in the AM. Thanks for the tip!

I do think gluten free is helping tremendously with how I feel everyday and with running. This race was more a gotta go, normal reasons situation, unlike my painful gluten experiences. Progress at least.

Being a runner means we gotta talk about stuff that’s TMI in non-running circles. No worries here. 🙂

How cute are you and Rob? I wish my husband would take up running…it would be such a fun thing to do together.
Last night I decided to push myself and I ran an 8:30 mile….afterwards I said to myself, “geez, Flyrunner can run even faster than this for like 26 miles”…….I’ll get there someday!

Dana you are too sweet! I think racing often helps me get used to new paces, but like you said it just takes time to see what the body will handle. I hope we get to meet up and run together sometime. 🙂